Nanomix Inc., a leading nanotechnology company focused on development of next generation point of care diagnostic tests to enable earlier and more accurate testing in hospital and pre-hospital settings, announced today that it has initiated clinical testing in the U.S. to evaluate the Omega-3 Cardiac Panel.
The panel quantitatively tests whole blood specimens for levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), myoglobin and H-FABP, biomarkers often used as an aid in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI). The initial testing will be conducted with approximately 170 normally healthy subjects and will provide baseline performance information that will form the basis of future registration clinical studies.
Chest pain is the second leading cause of admittance to Emergency Departments in the US. An early and accurate diagnosis of chest pain complaints is key to achieving improved patient outcomes through earlier treatment intervention. The Omega-3 handheld system is designed for use in the Emergency Department and by pre-hospital First Responders in the field to speed the diagnosis of an MI. The combination of a handheld electronic reader and wholly contained cartridge allow the cardiac test panel to be performed at the point of patient contact, avoiding delays associated with transporting samples to laboratory for traditional testing. Using a whole blood sample, the Omega-3 handheld system is designed to produce results in approximately 10 minutes at the site of first patient interaction, potentially reducing diagnosis of an MI by as much as an hour. The cardiac test panel is the first developed for the Nanomix platform and extensions into other emergency medicine and infectious disease areas are planned to follow.
Source: http://www.nano.com/